Chapter 282: Worth it, too worth it

"Memoirs of a Geisha" won three out of six, which is not an upset.

There are too many reasons why this film can win.

The producer is Spielberg, and his connections in Hollywood don't need to be said.

As long as he doesn't start his own company, as long as it's not a film produced by DreamWorks, he is one of the directors most welcomed by the Seven Major Film Companies in Hollywood, at least currently.

Last December 2005, his DreamWorks had already been sold to Viacom, which is the parent company of Paramount Pictures, so now the "single" Spielberg is no longer greeted by the siege of the Seven Majors, but by friendship.

Another reason for winning is also very simple. "Memoirs of a Geisha" is a film invested by Columbia, and Columbia has exerted its strength at the Oscars.

You have to know that Sid Ganis, who just took office as Oscar president last year, although he resigned from Columbia, must still have inextricable ties with Columbia.

Although "Zhu Nuo" was also nominated for major awards such as Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress, Cao Yang understands that this film is impossible to win Best Director and Best Actress.

The reason is also very simple. Except for the European three majors, there are very few film festivals in the world that will give the most important awards to newcomers—the director and lead actress of "Zhu Nuo" are all newcomers.

The most likely awards for "Zhu Nuo" to win are Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing.

As for Best Picture, Cao Yang is also not sure.

Like the situation of "Brokeback Mountain," logically speaking, the Oscars cannot let Chinese people win the most important Best Director or Best Picture again this year.

But "Zhu Nuo's" advantage over "Brokeback Mountain" is that there is more than one producer.

Fox Searchlight President Jason Simmons is also a producer, and when applying for the Oscars, he was ranked ahead of Cao Yang.

In addition, "Zhu Nuo" has been operating for half a year, and has spent nearly 20 million U. S. dollars so far. The goal is definitely not just staring at Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing.

Next, Charlize Theron went on stage as a presenter. She was going to present Best Editing, which is one of the five nominations for "Zhu Nuo," and also the first award among the five nominations to be presented.

Charlize Theron was originally going to present Best Documentary, and Zhang Ziyi was going to present Best Editing, but in order to "avoid suspicion," they swapped with Charlize Theron, and Pang Bing and Zhang Ziyi presented Best Documentary.

"A good film not only needs a good director, a wonderful script, and outstanding actors, but also needs excellent editing."

"The nominees are: 'Cinderella Man,' 'The Constant Gardener,' 'Crash,' 'Zhu Nuo,' 'Munich'."

With Charlize Theron's words, the five films appeared on the big screen behind her one by one.

"The winner is..."

Charlize Theron opened the envelope, then the corners of her mouth curled up, and said to the microphone: "'Zhu Nuo,' Kathy Haggis, Cao Yang."

Cao Yang was very calm, and the shot of him smiling and clapping appeared on the big screen on stage.

This award was expected.

Ever since he called Oscar President Sid Ganis, and Sid Ganis said that not letting Zhang Ziyi present this award was to avoid suspicion, Cao Yang knew that this award was already in the bag.

Cao Yang went on stage with "Zhu Nuo's" other editor, Kathy Haggis.

Charlize Theron hugged Cao Yang and said with a smile: "Congratulations, I didn't expect you to be able to win a major award as an editor. It's really unexpected."

"Thank you, Sally."

After Cao Yang finished speaking, he patted Charlize Theron's back, signaling that she could let go. If she hugged any longer, the time would be too long.

Besides, there was Kathy Haggis waiting next to him.

Charlize Theron smiled, let go of Cao Yang, but as she left, she still said softly, "I waited for you for seven days."

Cao Yang's smile stalled for a moment.

Don't be like this, Sally, I'm scared.

Kathy Haggis obviously didn't have Cao Yang's treatment. Charlize Theron just shook hands with him and said congratulations.

When giving the acceptance speech, Cao Yang was very calm. Nowadays, this kind of "small" award is of little use to him and will not bring special status bonus.

His acceptance speech was also very brief.

"It's very unexpected to win this award as an editor. Thank you to the Academy, thank you to my alma mater, Beijing Film Academy, for cultivating me into a composite talent."

"So, excellent directors, I'm talking about you, Steven (Spielberg), Clint (Eastwood), and Director Ang Lee, when you need an editor, please remember that I am also an excellent editor."

Although Cao Yang's words were brief, they still caused bursts of applause and laughter from the guests and audience present.

Kathy Haggis was different.

He was just an ordinary editor who was unknown before. He had been mixing in Hollywood for most of his life and was still mediocre, otherwise he wouldn't have become the editor of "Zhu Nuo," which only had an investment of a few million.

When "Zhu Nuo" invited him at the beginning, it made it clear to him that this film was controlled by Director Cao Yang, and the editing was also mainly based on Cao Yang's opinions...

In short, it was one meaning: you can have opinions, but you need to reserve them, otherwise get out.

Kathy Haggis still had self-knowledge. People invited him to be an editor, not because of his qualifications, nor because of his mediocrity, but because they needed an obedient editor, nothing more.

Kathy Haggis wouldn't have dreamed that this film could help him win the Oscar for Best Editing!

Kathy Haggis was very excited, so excited that his speech was incoherent.

To tell the truth, this Oscar for Best Editing was simply picked up for nothing. What he did at the time was listen, work, and there was no other contribution.

Like a dream!

Therefore, Kathy Haggis thanked Cao Yang seven times in his speech. 【28

Next, the Best Actor and Best Actress awards were presented. Cao Yang's guess was correct; the Best Actress award went to Reese Witherspoon, while the lead actress of *Zhu Nuo*, Emma Stone, did not win the award.

It is almost impossible for a newcomer to win an Oscar for Best Actress.

Subsequently, Dustin Hoffman came on stage as a presenter; he was to present the award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

*Brokeback Mountain* had also received a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, setting up another showdown with Cao Yang.

Dustin Hoffman is also considered a great acting master in Hollywood, having won the Oscar for Best Actor twice, as well as the Honorary Golden Bear at Berlin and the Honorary Golden Lion at Venice.

"The script is the foundation of a film, and an adapted screenplay can even better reflect a screenwriter's skill and creativity. The winner of the 78th Best Adapted Screenplay is..."

Dustin Hoffman opened the envelope and said into the microphone: "*Brokeback Mountain*, Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana."

Cao Yang was taken aback; instead of feeling disappointed, he couldn't help but feel a sense of anticipation.

Fox Searchlight had invested nearly twenty million dollars.

As a company under 20th Century Fox—one of the "Big Seven" in Hollywood—specifically responsible for operating independent and art-house films, how could they dare to spend so much money without some level of certainty?

Actually, thinking about it carefully, it was quite normal for Cao Yang not to win this award.

As one of the awards with the greatest global influence, the Oscars certainly wouldn't follow the Golden Globes' lead and give Cao Yang Best Screenplay for three consecutive years just to create a gimmick.

Yes, if the Oscars had given Cao Yang Best Adapted Screenplay this time, it would have counted as giving him Best Screenplay for three consecutive years.

*Milk* won the 76th Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

*District 9* won the 77th Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Whether it is Best Original Screenplay or Best Adapted Screenplay, they are both essentially Best Screenplay.

If *Zhu Nuo* had also won the 78th Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, Cao Yang would have effectively won Best Screenplay for three consecutive years.

Therefore, the Oscars couldn't possibly give Cao Yang this award just for the sake of a gimmick, allowing Cao Yang's name to be "easily" written into Oscar history.

Next was the presentation for Best Director. *Zhu Nuo*'s director, Jason Reitman, was nominated for this award, and Ang Lee was also nominated.

The presenter for Best Director was Tom Hanks. When he read out that the winner was *Crash* director Paul Haggis, Cao Yang noticed Ang Lee and saw him reveal his signature bitter smile.

Historically, Ang Lee won this award for *Brokeback Mountain*.

But because Cao Yang won Best Picture the year before last and Best Director last year, the Oscars certainly wouldn't give the most important Best Director award back to a Chinese person again.

This time, Best Director went to *Crash*; could this film still win Best Picture like it did in history?

The final major award was Best Picture, and the presenter was Jack Nicholson.

This was another great acting master.

He had won the Oscar for Best Actor three times, the Golden Globe for Best Actor five times, and had also won Best Actor at Cannes.

After a brief speech, Jack Nicholson said:

"The nominees for the 78th Oscar for Best Picture are: *Brokeback Mountain*, *Good Night, and Good Luck*, *Munich*, *Zhu Nuo*, *Crash*."

He opened the envelope first and then said directly: "The winner is, *Zhu Nuo*."

Just as expected; I said Fox Searchlight's twenty million dollars couldn't have been spent in vain.

Fan Bingbing, sitting next to Cao Yang, was stunned for a moment, then hugged Cao Yang and said excitedly: "Did I hear that right? You are the producer of *Zhu Nuo*, right?"

"Don't get excited, one of them, one of them."

"You are truly amazing!"

Sigh, you don't know the half of it.

It's not that I'm amazing; it's that the money is amazing, the Hollywood Big Seven are amazing, Fox Searchlight's strategy is amazing, and it's amazing that Jason Simmons, this "turncoat," backstabbed the Republican Party!

Fox Searchlight president Jason Simmons was very happy. With *Zhu Nuo* winning the Oscar for Best Picture, plus Cao Yang's influence, the film's box office would start at at least one hundred million dollars!

Those twenty million were so well spent!

Hiring Cao Yang was so worth it!

I, Fox Searchlight president Jason Simmons, am so amazing!

(End of chapter)